The Gingrich Surge Has Come — There's lots of buzz on Friday about national polls that are variously being interpreted as good news for Newt Gingrich, good or bad news for Mitt Romney, and good or bad news for Herman Cain. So let's take a step back and focus on the bigger picture.

Cain: God Convinced Him to Run for President — Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain gestures during a speech at the Values Voter Summit in October — ATLANTA, Ga. - Herman Cain, whose campaign could use some redemption in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal …

Is this the sexiest political ad campaign ever? Putin's model army strikes again with raunchy video to get Russians voting — They've washed cars in skimpy outfits and torn their clothes off - all to promote the hardman of Russian politics, Vladimir Putin.

Renewable Energy: Bubble, Scam, or Both? — The lead story in today's New York Times is a devastating look at solar and wind power subsidies. Too bad it appears on a Saturday when fewer people will read it (which may not be a coincidence). The print hed and sub-hed tell it better than the online version …

Cost, need questioned in $433-million smallpox drug deal — A company controlled by a longtime political donor gets a no-bid contract to supply an experimental remedy for a threat that may not exist. — The U.S. searched Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, including smallpox, after the 2003 invasion.

Iran explosion at Tehran military base — There has been at least one explosion in a military base west of Iran's capital, Tehran, officials say. — Several people have been killed after the blast in a weapons depot, according to the semi-official Fars news agency, but this has not been confirmed.